(Bloomberg) -- The Justice Department is preparing to challenge a deal in the corporate travel market over antitrust concerns, according to people familiar with the matter.
A lawsuit seeking to block American Express Global Business Travel Group Inc.’s acquisition of rival CWT Holdings, which it valued at about $570 million, could come as soon as this week, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential case.
No final decision has been made, said the people, adding that the DOJ’s actions in the final days of the Biden Administration are fluid and subject to last minute changes.
The companies, which help corporate customers manage travel and event planning, met earlier this week with senior leadership at the DOJ’s antitrust division to argue in favor of the deal, said the people.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department, Amex-GBT and American Express Co. declined to comment. CWT didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The Biden Administration has made antitrust enforcement and competition policy a central piece of its economic agenda. A lawsuit to block the GBTG would be one of its final acts to police what it believes is excessive concentration of power across the economy. Managing the lawsuit would fall to the incoming Trump Administration and Gail Slater, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the DOJ’s antitrust division.
American Express owns a minority interest in Amex GBT after spinning off the company in 2014. CWT is majority owned by investment firms including Redwood Capital Management and Monarch Alternative Capital. The deal was announced in March 2024. The companies have said they plan to close the deal in the first quarter.
The companies maintain that they operate in a competitive market, pointing to others including BCD Travel and Navan Inc.
Amex GBT is number three, behind Booking Holdings Inc. and Expedia Group, on Travel Weekly’s 2024 Power List, which ranks the world’s largest travel companies. It’s the largest company on the list focused on the corporate market. BCD and CWT are four and five, respectively.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has also raised concerns the deal would harm competition, releasing an interim report in early November that focuses on multinational companies with annual travel budgets over $25 million.
The CMA has a late January deadline to decide whether to block the merger. The companies offered to impose price caps and open CWT’s travel partner network to competing travel companies to obtain UK approval, and potentially offload some CWT customers to competitors as well.
--With assistance from Leah Nylen and Paige Smith.
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